Joseph



J. 0. WHITE.

STORE SERVICE SYSTEM.

N0.250,0Z5. Patented N0v.22,1881@ r ,T 1 J -1 C n I Ji Inventor flzmz- I w mmmm,

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PATENT JOSEPH 0. WHITE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO AUTOMATIC PARCEL DELIVERY COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

STORE-SERVICE SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,025, dated November 22, 1881.

Application filed November 28, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JosEPH 0. WHITE, of the city, county, and State of New York,have invented a Store-Service System, of which the following is the specification.

My invention is a system of storeservice which accomplishes automatically the work now performed in mercantile establishments by messengers generally known as cash-boys or cash-girls.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure l is an elevation showing the counters and desk of a store and with appliances for carrying out my invention. Fig. 2

is a plan in section on the line 1 2, Fig. 1.

The common practice in retail stores is to provide the salesman or attendant at each station, counter, or section of a counter with a cash-book or blanks upon or in which entries of sales andprices are made, to be then handedto the cash-boys, (either with or withoutthe goods sold,) and by them carried to the cashiers desk or packing office, table, or station for record and adjustment of the change, and, if required,

the packing and checking of the goods sold. The change, if any, is then returned by the cash-boys (together with the goods, it the custom of the store so requires) to the salesman, and is by him delivered to the customer, who

0 has waited therefor. This plan, in practice, is full of vexations, delays, and loss of time to both salesmen and customers, especially when the store is crowded. Oarelessness and mistakes on the part of the boys also frequently 3 5 lead to disputes and further loss of time, and

altogether the plan now in vogue has proved to be very unsatisfactory as well as costly, the annual outlay for wages alone in a large retail store amounting to many thousands of dollars.

My invention att'ords'a simple and effective automatic system of conveyance between the salesmen and the cashiers or packers desks, whereby the cash with its memorandum, either with or without the goods, may be carried to 4 5 the cashier or packing-clerk, and returned to the salesman who sentit, and without the delays, expense, and annoyance incident to the present mode.

In carrying out my invention three things are essential: first, an inclined way leading 5 from a counter or station to the clerks desk; second, an inclined way leading from the desk back ,to said counter 5 and, third, a series of carriers traveling between each salesman and the clerks desk. With such an arrangement 5 of devices each attendant may, by means of the proper carrier, forward the matter to be sent to the clerks desk, where the desired record is made,and the clerk may then return the mattertothe party who forwarded it, the whole 6 being effected more easily and quickly than a lad can make his way through a crowded store, without possibility of misdelivery, at a fraction of the cost involved in the means now used. 7 6 The appliances used and their construction may vary according to circumstances, one arrangementbeingillustrated in the Letters Patent granted to me on the 11th day of November, 1879. The said patent shows the ways, 7 consisting of two rods or rails, B O, inclined in opposite directions, and extending in straight, waved, or curved lines, parallel to each other, over the various counters, E, to and from the main desk, station, or table A. These rails 7 are situated within reach of the attendants, or of suitable implements, by which carriers (each attendant having one or more of the same) can be placed on the rail inclined toward the desk. The carriers are constructed to receive and 8. hold the memorandum-books, cash, parcel, or other matter, and are provided with frictionwheels, so that they will move readily by gravity along the rails. The carriers belonging to the several attendants may be marked to in- 8 dicate the party sending them, and the matter to be sent to the desk by any party is placed by him in one of his carriers, and the latter is put upon the rail inclined toward the desk, to which it will pass readily. The clerk returns the change, book, or other matter sent to the desk by placing it in the carrier, depositing the latter on the rail inclined toward the position of the salesman, to whom it will pass to be arrested at its destination by hand, or by 93 means of a stop-pin properly arranged to detain the carriers pertaining to that particular salesman and no others.

Ifdesired, turn-outs may be arranged to shunt ach carrier at the counter from which it was cut, so that those behindit may pass farther n.

The carriers may be moved by clock-work, ytravelingbelts or hands with friction-catches, r otherwise; or the ways may consist of tubes r bands, belts, or cables passing around puleys and provided with hooks or catches for upporting the carriers.

I do not claim the particular featuies of any f the arrangements above specified, as they my form subjects of separate applications for letters Patent.

I claim-- The within-described system of store-service, consisting of an inclined way or ways leading from the stations of the salesmen to a main desk or station, an inclined way or ways leading from the desk to the said stations, and car- 20 riers adapted to be supported and conveyed by said ways from either station to the desk and back to said station, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub- 25 scribing witnesses.

JOSEPH 0. WHITE.

Witnesses:

H. H. HAYDEN, JNo. W. FRAZER. 

